Microchip Sureflap catflap - Got it but need help with a prob

[Millys Mum]

Will your CP lady help rehome him when theres a space?
I wont leave cats in traps overnight any more after seeing a face cut to pieces, just to give you both sides Tan, think its important to have someone agree to have him before trying to catch so hes not in limbo. If you got him first thing then a decent vet would let you bring him in and hold the following night if needed.
You'll have to set up a regular food time to win some trust, would one of your other neighbours let you use their garden as a base so it doesnt upset your boys?

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Not much point trapping him unless he has somewhere to go after, unless to neuter and set free again but he obviously has no home and uses all available cat flaps to get food 

[Janeyk]

When I first trapped ferals round where I live Ann from CP came round with the trap one morning to show me and as luck would have it we cought one there and then and took it to the vets but I was advised to trap the others and leave them in the garage overnight.  However I didn't feed them the previous night and trapped them all early mornings because didn't like the idea of them left all night    and they were all ok, although I prefer to do that I suppose you should trap them the previous night to ensure they've not eaten.   

[Liz]

Tan he can be left in the trap overnight if you need to and then deposited at teh et in the trap - I set my traps overnight and check them in the morning and haven't lost one yet but in the cold weather I do set the traps in the garage so they aren't in the cold and they have the trap on a pallet to stop the cold from the concrete!

[Tan]

He sounds like hes living the typical life of a tom, roaming around raiding bins and catflaps until the day comes hes either hit by a car looking for love or he looses his patch to age.
If no one has responded to your posters then it would be best for him to trap and rehome, make sure whoever helps you is fiv friendly tho just incase.
The sooner he is caught the better or he will be fathering his grandchildren  Traps shouldnt be left unattended so the weather doesnt have to be an issue as long as you have a warm place to keep him overnight
The road near you has claimed so many lives    maybe your boys would like a tabby girlfriend 

I think i will call Brenda at my local CP see if i can borrow a trap.  Prob is i don't have a spare room in to hold him in and sadly i know my lads lives would be awful if i brought him in here Otherwise i would try. I wake up in early hours to fights in the garden awful screaming where Garf is fighting him.    Since we have the sureflap he hasn't got in and Garf and Marl are back to felling safe in the house again but not in their garden.
Little Miss Tingley (named by me as she has a tingley bell lol) is ok with my two lads, she just ignores them and they are not agressive to her and just watch her. She is cheeky though and bashes the flap to try and get in! I have looked after them when her and her brother (RIP) were smaller when next door went on hols in summer so she knows me and knows i have lots of toys!!!  I actually don't mind her coming in as the lads don't seem bovered but i still want their core teritory (ie the house) to be theirs esp as they are indoor / garden only cats. It's not fair on them to introduce another cat into such a small space and little Miss tingley madam has a home next door! lol she is lovely though! 

I keep asking next door of she has been spayed yet and they keep saying they will do. I have warned them that she can easily get pregnant at 4 months and she is 6 months old now.

[Tan]

Tan, I'd put a paper collar on (you can get them from CP) to see if has an owner if you can, if not I'd trap and take him to vets. 

Can't get anywhere near him hun. Noone can.

[Millys Mum]

He sounds like hes living the typical life of a tom, roaming around raiding bins and catflaps until the day comes hes either hit by a car looking for love or he looses his patch to age.
If no one has responded to your posters then it would be best for him to trap and rehome, make sure whoever helps you is fiv friendly tho just incase.
The sooner he is caught the better or he will be fathering his grandchildren  Traps shouldnt be left unattended so the weather doesnt have to be an issue as long as you have a warm place to keep him overnight
The road near you has claimed so many lives    maybe your boys would like a tabby girlfriend 

[Janeyk]

Do you think a big pile of dreamies/temptations directly inside the flap help by way of positive association?

This is what id suggest, he needs to associate the click with something positive 

Is anybody looking out for stray tom or is he just being repelled from one property to the next? 

I agree with positve reinforcement
Tan, I'd put a paper collar on (you can get them from CP) to see if has an owner if you can, if not I'd trap and take him to vets. 

[Tan]

Do you think a big pile of dreamies/temptations directly inside the flap help by way of positive association?

This is what id suggest, he needs to associate the click with something positive 

Is anybody looking out for stray tom or is he just being repelled from one property to the next? 

We think he is a stray but not sure, looks well fed, no collar, def entire Tom.  I have asked about and have put up notices in the local shops to see if anyone is responible for him.  I 1st heard about him when a neighbour knocked to ask if we were having trouble with a tabby male as he was terrorizing her two spayed girls and coming into their catflap.   I did notice that her girls were not out much anymore. 

Then i heard that next door who are newish neighbours a young couple, had two little kittens girls and let them out sadly before they were done. One of them went missing for a month and came back pregnant. The other littel girl was spayed but sadly died on the road about 6 months ago.  Tia the little mum had 4 kittens and the "stray" was def the dad! Two of the kittens were rehomed and two were kept a boy and a girl. The boy was killed on the road 2 weeks ago. Miss tingle is the tabby girl.  They finally got Tia spayed but sadly not until after she was pregnant again and had one more kitten, a boy, who is now already allowed out just after his 2nd injection (way too little to be allowed out .  Miss tingley is still not spayed  yet and the dad (the entire stray) is still about!!

The neighbour in our row but op end has a black elderly cat and has told me this male stray comes into her house and eats food there and has been for a while, she knows of no owner.

Do you think i should ask CP for a trap for him?  He comes more at night early hours so in this weather i am a little worried to trap him out in the cold weather?

[Tan]

 

Yeap been trying treats to try and get a good association with the clicking noise but he comes toward it hears the sound then backs off and sits away from it and stays there.  He sees Garf go through it all the time no probs!  He has always been the "scared of noise" lad, the bin men scare him with their noise of the bin truck!

I will try keeping the door open with the click on and see if he will come through. It is quiet a loud "chunk" noise and must be louder if you have your head right near it!
I am not sure how to try and train him to get used to the noise and associate it with safe feelings other than what i have done.  

With the fencing yeap i can add some netting to the top of the shed to stop Mr Stray getting his escape route out but i am worried that if i do that i am locking him in the garden to fight with Garf or Marl.  They are already going outside slowly and very causiously because of him. It is upsetting to see as the garden is their only outside space they have and love it out there.
With the arch fencing we have , cats can get in over the netting and we have had two others come in, in the years we have had the fencing up but have never been able to get out so scare themselves into never coming back in!!  This is the 1st time a stray has come in and has found a way out up the corner of a 9ft shed on to it's roof and out over the fences.
I will go down to B&Q and get more netting to put on the shed hopefully that will stop him actually jumping down into the garden.

Thats how little miss Tingley gets in as well! She litterally flings herself off the shed roof into the garden! Or she will crawl over the netting to the edge then fling herself into the garden.  She gets out, as she is small, in a gap at the back of the garden between the fence bottom and the stone base about 2 inches wide.  

[Millys Mum]

Do you think a big pile of dreamies/temptations directly inside the flap help by way of positive association?

This is what id suggest, he needs to associate the click with something positive 

Is anybody looking out for stray tom or is he just being repelled from one property to the next? 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Do you think a big pile of dreamies/temptations directly inside the flap help by way of positive association?

[Christine (Blip)]

I would love to help but until we get our little ramp, we can't even get to the start point with training    I'll follow this thread with interest for later on, though.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Isnt there a way to stop these cats coming into the garden, like upgrading the cat proofing?

[Zenith (Liz)]

My mums cat wouldnt happily go through the catflap for the first few weeks due to the beep but mum would place his food bowl directly inside by the catflap and nowadays he isnt phased by it at all!

[Tan]

Hi Hunnies

Yeyyyy I have solved the prob of the Stray Tom getting into the house and stealing the lads fud and most importantly giving them the security back in the house. Sadly i still get the cat coming in the garden on the odd occassion and Garf fights with it (which i stop and chase the cat out)  but i hope this stops as the food source has stopped so hoping the cat won't keep coming back.

This new flap went in great and i managed to get both lads through it for the first time so the flap reads their microchip    But this flap makes a loud clicking sound when they approach it and both were scared to go near it after the first "walk though".

So i reread the instructions and started at the beg with catflap training. Ie i turned of the clicking and held door open with tape for a while so they could get used to the smaller size to go through. Right that done as both were using it that way. Then i shut door (still without clicker on) and both was using it ok Great   right now to put the security bit on and so the flap only reads their chips, that means outting the clicker noise back on as they approch.   Garf was ok and the noise has not bothered him! BUT Marl he won't go near it with the clicker sound!  I have tried turning the clicker bit (the auto chip reader part) off in day and only on at night when the Stary trys to come in. This lets Marl use it in the day but srill won't go near it at night.

I realised i was teaching him to not go near it when it made the clicking sound!! So really need to leave the flap in clicking mode all the time for him to get used to it.

Have ya any ideas or experiences of cats scared of this noise from a new catflap?  How can i get Marl to be happy with the sound as he just wont come in or go out of the flap with it!!


I have to have it on all time now as we have a Miss Tingley (aka Maisey, little tabby kitten from next door) Quite happily coming in the flap if clicker is off!  Little Miss Tingley is a daughter of the stray Tom when next door didn't get their girl neutered in time.  The Mum Tia (all black) dosen't come in the garden at all but her cheeky little daughter does.    (she is very nice though  )

So really need to try and get Marl happy with the noise of the clicker all the time.